The Time Paradox
by Saiashi Ryu
Summary: The heroes thought they had defeated Ultimecia . . . but little did they realize that within the confusion of Time Compression arose a time paradox that granted Ultimecia access to nearly every era of time. Now she has returned, assaulting Garden.
1. Prologue

Final Fantasy VIII

The Time Paradox

By: Ryu Saiashi

prologue

Five years ago, several heroes stood up against a powerful time sorceress, Ultimecia. These heroes were Squall Leonhart- an introverted man who later warmed to his friends, and leader of his SeeD squadron; Rinoa Heartily, leader of a Timber Resistance Faction who grew to love Squall; Laguna Loire, an Ex-Galbadian Soldier, President of Esthar, leader of his squadron; Quistis Trepe, Ex-instructor demoted to SeeD, Selphie Tilmitt, A spunky nunchaku-bearer who was teamed with Squall and Zell after the Dollet SeeD Exam; Irvine Kinneas, SeeD Member and trained assassin of Galbadia Garden who attempted to assassinate the sorceress Edea; Kiros Seagill and Ward Zabac, partners to Laguna; and Edea Kramer, Wife of Headmaster Cid Kramer, a sorceress whose powers passed down to Rinoa. Together, these ten heroes stood against the force of Time Compression, which killed all other beings in existence beside Ultimecia, her minions, and other monsters which roamed the world, and annihilated the evil sorceress Ultimecia, which destroyed Time Compression and threw the heroes all across the timeline. Squall, thrown back to the time where Ultimecia passed her powers down to Edea, told her about SeeD and Garden, thus creating a world without Ultimecia . . .

. . . Or so they thought . . .


	2. Chapter 1 Reminiscing

Chapter 1- reminiscing

Squall looked out the window of the Mobile Balamb Garden's bridge, looking over Esthar, making sure everything was in order. He looked left, then right, then straight forward again. He chuckled a bit then turned toward Nida, the pilot of the mobile base. They nodded to each other, and Nida turned the Garden, turning it toward the Trabia region. Squall stared blankly out the window, as memories began to flow through his mind. He remembered his storm on Galbadia Garden, meeting with Laguna at Esthar, fighting Ultimecia, Ultimecia's castle. But the most prominent memory he recalled was when he took the unconscious Rinoa to Esthar. He vividly remembered carrying her across the train bridge from Fisherman's Horizon to Esthar, and fighting the Abadon along the way . . . .

**************

Squall walked along the Salt Flats, walking with Rinoa on his back. The others all walked behind him, they were all determined to get to Esthar to bring Rinoa back from her coma. Squall looked from side to side continuously, as to make sure nothing attacked him while he was looking away. The group soon reached the end of the Salt Flats, when all of a sudden, a massive disfigured being emerged from below, with wings and tusks. "Damn!" Squall shouted, as he set Rinoa down and readied his gunblade. The others readied their weapons . . . .

**************

Squall emerged from his trance-like state as Nida nudged his shoulder and said, "What do you think of that?" pointing to Trabia garden below, which had burst into flames. "Looks like another sorceress, if you ask me." He said. He pushed the intercom button, saying "Irvine Kinneas and Quistis Trepe, please assemble at the main gate. I repeat, Irvine Kinneas and Quistis Trepe, please assemble at the main gate." He rested his hand on his hip and stared out the window a little longer. He sighed and took the elevator down to the office, and took the other elevator down to the first floor, then headed toward the main gate. When he got there, Irvine and Quistis turned to him as Irvine asked, "Hey, what's goin' on?"

Squall crossed his arms, saying, "I think another sorceress has attacked Trabia Garden. Our goals: Annihilate the sorceress, assess the damage that the Garden has sustained, and depending on our results, we will check Trabia garden for Mobile Capability." _I doubt it has any, though . . ._He thought. Quistis and Irvine nodded. "Let's go." Squall said, and the three ran out the main gate.

*************

Squall sighed, arms crossed, as his comrades looked around the surrounding area. _No sign of a sorceress . . . the fire's been put out, no serious damage was taken . . ._ He took a normal stance, turning to Irvine and Quistis. "Well?" Quistis asked.

Squall just shook his head, saying, "There's no need to make Trabia Garden mobile . . . for now."

*************

And so the battle began. The Abadon took a heavy swing at Squall, and he lept into the air, bringing his gunblade down. The Abadon shifted its weight to one side, dodging the attack, and it batted Squall off to the side. Quistis jumped up behind it, wrapping her whip around its neck and pulling its head back and down, as Selphie and Zell held its arms down with their respective weapons, Irvine took shots at its head from a higher location, and Edea formed long shards of ice out of the moisture in the air. Unfortunately for them all, the Abadon whipped its head forward, sending Quistis flying and bashed Zell and Selphie together with its arms. Quistis landed on top of Edea, and her shards of ice fell and shattered. "Damn! How are we going to beat this thing?" Zell shouted, rubbing his head.

**************

The elevator whirred as Squall returned to the bridge, and he took a couple steps toward Nida. "I guess onward to Deling City, then. We're going to take a little break for awhile." He said.

"Ok." Nida replied as he turned the garden around to head to Deling City.

**************

Squall stood atop one of many rocks, high above the Abadon. He looked down and said, "Nothing will get in the way of me taking Rinoa to Esthar." With that, his Gunblade began to glow with a blue aura. He jumped down over the Abadon's head, shouting, "Renzokuken!" He took several heavy swings at the Abadon's face, as it fell over. Squall landed on the ground, twirling his gunblade around in his hand. He roared as a blue, lightning-like aura flew all around him "Rough Divide!" He ran at the Abadon, slashing through it and jumping high into the air, and the Abadon fell to dust. Squall back flipped mid-air and landed on his feet, panting slightly. He sheathed his gunblade, picked up Rinoa, and continued walking. The others just stared at him, amazed. He turned around to them, saying, "Let's go." He then turned around and headed onward in his search for Esthar.


End file.
